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Alfred Dreyfus (top left) at the Artillery School (3rd Brigade), Fontainebleau, 1880-1882
Paris, mahJ, gift of Captain Dreyfus's grandchildren © ph. Christophe Fouin
The Dreyfus Affair: key dates
A few chronological landmarks in the Dreyfus Affair.
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1859-1894
1859
Alfred Dreyfus is born in Mulhouse, Alsace.
1878-1892
Military training at the École Polytechnique and the École supérieure de guerre (Military Staff College).
1893
Dreyfus joins the General Staff as a trainee.
1894
End of September
The presence of a traitor within the general staff is uncovered.
15 October
Dreyfus is arrested and imprisoned.
19-22 December
In a trial behind closed doors, Dreyfus is convicted of high treason on the basis of documents he has never seen.
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1895
5 January
Dreyfus is stripped of his rank in a humiliating public ceremony.
13 April
He is sent to Devil’s Island, off the coast of French Guiana.
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"The scene of the degradation in the courtyard of the Ecole Militaire". The Martyrdom of Alfred Dreyfus: A Historical Survey of the Whole Case, Special Number of The Graphic, London, 14 September 1899.
Paris, mahJ, gift of Captain Dreyfus's grandchildren © ph. Christophe Fouin
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L'Île du Diable, undated,
Paris, mahJ, gift of the grandchildren of Captain Dreyfus © ph. Christophe Fouin
1896
End of August
Lieutenant-Colonel Georges Picquart, head of military intelligence, discovers that Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy is guilty. His superiors refuse to listen to him.
6 September
Dreyfus is placed in irons.
Autumn
Bernard Lazare publishes Une erreur judiciaire. La vérité sur l’affaire Dreyfus. (A Judicial Error: The Truth about the Dreyfus Affair).
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Légende
Aron Gerschel (phot.), Lieutenant-colonel Georges Picquart, 1898, albumen print pasted on printed cardboard
Paris, mahJ, gift of Gilbert Schil © ph. Christophe Fouin
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Légende
Fortuné Louis Méaulle, "Dreyfus on Devil's Island", Le Petit Journal, 27 September 1896 © ph. Christophe Fouin
1897
July
Vice-president of the Senate Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, convinced of Dreyfus’s innocence, takes up his defence.
November
Alfred Dreyfus’s brother Mathieu learns that Esterhazy is the actual traitor and denounces him.
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Eugène Pirou (phot.), Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, Paris, 4e quart du XIXe siècle, épreuve sur papier albuminé collée sur carton imprimé,
Paris, mahJ, don de Gilbert Schil © ph. Christophe Fouin
1898
10-11 January
Esterhazy is tried in closed court and acquitted by a military tribunal.
13 January
Émile Zola publishes ‘J’Accuse…!’ in the daily newspaper L’Aurore.
7-23 February
Zola is tried and found guilty of libel.
30 August
Lieutenant-Colonel Hubert-Joseph Henry admits that he had forged evidence against Dreyfus. The next day he is found in his cell with his throat slit.
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Fortuné Louis Méaulle, "Le commandant Esterhazy au conseil de guerre. Reading of the judgement", Le Petit Journal, 23 January 1898, Paris, mahJ, © ph. Christophe Fouin
Émile Zola, "J'Accuse...! Letter to the President of the Republic", L'Aurore, 13 January 1898
1899
3 June
The Cour de cassation (France’s Supreme Court) reverses the 1894 decision and orders Dreyfus to appear in a retrial before the Council of War in Rennes.
30 June
Dreyfus returns to France.
7 August-9 September
Dreyfus is found guilty with extenuating circumstances.
19 September
President Émile Loubet pardons him.
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Émile Fivaz, L’Accusé récalcitrant, 1899, encre, aquarelle et lavis sur papier contrecollé sur carton
Paris, mahJ © ph. Christophe Fouin
1900
27 December
An amnesty is declared.
1903
6-7 April
Député (Member of Parliament) Jean Jaurès makes a historic speech that reopens the Affair. Minister of War Louis André promises an inquest and brings the case before the Cour de cassation a few months later.
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Nadar (phot.), Jean Jaurès, 4th quarter of the 19th century, albumen print pasted on printed cardboard
Paris, mahJ, gift of Gilbert Schil © ph. Christophe Fouin
1905
9 December
Vote on the law separating Church and State.
11 July
The Cour de cassation reverses the Rennes decision.
13 July
Dreyfus is reinstated in the military but loses five years’ seniority.
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Ernest Le Delay (publisher-printer), The Rehabilitation of Dreyfus, Paris, 1906, postcard
Paris, mahJ, gift of Gérard Silvain © ph. Christophe Fouin
1907
26 June
Seeing no possibility of advancement, Dreyfus requests retirement.
1908
4 June
During the ceremony in which Zola’s ashes are transferred to the Panthéon, Dreyfus is the victim of an attempted assassination.
1914-1918
When the First World War breaks out, Dreyfus immediately returns to military service.
1935
Death of Dreyfus.